The Master Document "Feature" is seriously flawed!
See my page on this.
How can I best use the Master Document feature?
General Answer: With Word 95-Word 2021, don't use it.
It has serious bugs and will corrupt your entire document at the most
inconvenient time possible. (This advice to not use Master Documents
reported as correct through Word 2021.) John McGhie put it succinctly
when he said that "there are two kinds of Master Documents: Those that
are corrupt and those that will be corrupt soon." It was reported
fixed in Word 2007, but "The jury is in: The Master Document feature
in Word 2010 remains word processing's answer to Conan the Destroyer.
Use it only if you enjoy pain and frustration." Microsoft Word 2010
Bible by Herb Tyson, MVP. "Since its inception, the Master Documents
feature has been a bit quirky and buggy, and that fact hasn't changed
with Word 2010, unfortunately." by Faithe Wempen, p. 681 This comment
has been updated without change (other than the year) in Microsoft
Word 2013 In Depth and Microsoft Word 2016 In Depth.
Keep in mind that Word will handle fairly large documents, assuming
you have the processor and RAM to deal with it. Second, there are
reasonable work-arounds available.
MVP Graham Mayor created a powerful utility that can replace Master
Documents for some purposes: Boiler - Insert a selection of documents
by Graham Mayor, MVP
MVP John Korchok recommends creating Master Documents to print and
then throwing them away. I agree that is a viable use of this feature.
https://www.brandwares.com/bestpractices/2013/10/modular-documents/
(archival link) I would recommend creating a new folder for this
purpose and copying anything to go into the MD to this folder, never
use your original documents as part of a MD.
The opening statement may be too strong.
The general rule might better be phrased "Don't edit Master
Documents!" You can use the feature to generate something to print.
You can use it to get Word to split up result documents from mail
merge into separate files. But when you are done with the Master
Document it should be deleted before it corrupts your subs.
Steve Hudson (aka the Word Heretic) has apparently mastered Master
Documents and provides detailed instructions on when their use is
appropriate, how do to it, with strict rules to follow. These are only
for those who are willing and able to follow the instructions. If you
are inclined to skip steps or ignore his warnings see the general answer
above. If using his work, please see my supplemental page.
I apologize for not telling you how to use this, but I've seen stories of people losing novels and doctoral theses because of using it. I've seen reports of parts of a Master Document that are not even open being corrupted.
See also my page on Outlining in Microsoft Word.
You can insert documents directly into a document not using the Master Document Feature
Under the Insert tab, use Insert Object, Text From File. You can insert the text directly, or as a link. When you insert as a link, the whole becomes a bit more difficult to move because you need to move all parts together.
